Quote:
Originally Posted by Kyuusai
Count me in as another who wouldn't mind so much as long as it's a replacement for the income tax. It encourages saving, and if spending needs to be encouraged at any point, it's easy enough to temporarily lower it very slightly and spur shopping sprees (with increased sales volume making up the difference). Straight sales tax does shift the burden toward the poor, though, which is why the FairTax is interesting. However, the FairTax is also too voodoo-y to gain traction.
My primary desire is for tax to be both simple and DIRECT. Right now USians have no idea how much they pay in taxes because so much of it is hidden by taxing the corporations (employment tax--your income taxation is TWICE what you think it is--and corporate tax... these all just get rolled into higher prices).
Every individual should be aware of exactly how much they are paying in taxes. Otherwise there is no accountability.
Of course, I also believe that taxes in the US should not be levied by the federal government, but instead by the state. |
Very interesting points, Kyuusai, especially the last one. State rights, or Federal rights? It will not be easy to repeal the 16th Amendment, that's for sure.
Now, I've heard stories of how hard it is to calculate how much tax to pay in the States. That goes back to Kyuusai's point: Can a direct taxation scheme NOT be simple? Can a simple scheme NOT be direct?
Fareed Zakaria has a theory about why the US tax code became so tedious in one of his books.